Characters / The Legend of Korra - Varrick and Zhu Li

The Legend of Korra Main Character Index
New Team Avatar (Avatar Korra, Asami Sato, Mako, Bolin) | Tenzin's Family | Beifong Family | Allies (Varrick and Zhu Li) | Seasons 1 & 2 Enemies (Amon) | Seasons 3 & 4 Enemies (Zaheer, Kuvira) | Past Characters | Other Characters | Comic Characters

This is a partial character sheet for The Legend of Korra. Subjective trope and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page.

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Sir Iknik Blackstone Varrick

Voiced by: John Michael Higgins

Voiced by (Italian): Nanni Baldini

Voiced by (German): Jaron Lowenberg

"I like to think I'm always there to stand up for the little guy. Especially if that little guy can help this guy become a bigger guy."

A resident of the Southern Water Tribe and one of the world's leading businessmen, introduced in Book 2.

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A-K

• Abstract Scale: Varrick weighs the spirit vines in terms of "two Zhu Lis" implying he knows her exact weight.
  • The same episode, he estimates the amount of energy said spirit vines give off in terms of Varricks. Justified, since there was really no way to measure spiritual energy before he invented it, so he might as well name it after himself.
• Affably Evil: He is a rather polite, friendly and genuinely kind man, even when he's trying to screw over others or profit off them. Even when he's exposed for his war profiteering, Varrick doesn't take it personally, apologizes for his actions, and is even genuinely helpful to Team Avatar thereafter, lending them a battleship for their attack on the Southern Spirit Portal. Later, after he's relocated to Zaofu, he helps them figure out that Aiwei is the mole responsible for letting the Red Lotus into Zaofu.
• Agony of the Feet: He seems to have a chronic series of foot ailments, which poor beleaguered Zhu Li often is called upon to soothe.
• Ambiguously Evil: He's unscrupulous, manipulative, and generally lacking in any sort of moral compass as far as profit goes. When he isn't trying to profit off a situation in some way, he is genuinely helpful and friendly. He also shies away from actual murder, since all his attacks had plenty of collateral damage and no apparent loss of life. He's really not even "evil" so much as very self-interested.
• Awesome, but Impractical: In Book 3, he has a Running Gag of inventing these, like magnetic armor that needs a giant power cord and an airbender detector that doesn't work unless the person airbends straight into it. This is justified in that some were just early prototypes which he intended to refine later. In Book 4, we see that he has refined the early mecha-suits built by Future Industries into a fully humanoid, much more versatile model.
• Bad Boss: Despite his affable nature, he's not afraid to use the people under him for profit. While not malicious to Zhu Li, his eccentric and demanding nature still wear her down until she finally sells him out to Kuvira.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Korra was facing a moral dilemma because intervening against Unalaq's occupation goes against her obligation to neutrality to as the Avatar, and still felt Unalaq could be reasoned with, while Tonraq was reluctant to take action for fear that it would threaten more of his people. Varrick seemigly decides to finish the job himself and ordered his men to attack Unalaq. Not only does it fail thanks to Korra's intervention, it officially kickstarted the civil war. While it was Varrick's intention to start a war, he admitted his attempted kidnapping also had the purpose of proving to Korra that Unalaq was lying to all of them from the start, which did help Korra after all.
• Bait the Dog: Varrick is first characterized as an affable and decent guy. But, he’s clearly up to no good. First he attempts to take care of Unalaq, which gets Tonraq subject to a Kangaroo Courtroom, all to prove Unalaq is lying to gain Korra’s trust. Then he arranges for Future Industries to go broke so he can buy up the assets and revitalize the company under his control, keeping Asami on as a grateful partner while he profits off the merger.
• Battle Couple: With Zhu Li, briefly. Though they've mostly worked on the tech side of things, they go into the field against Kuvira's giant mech right after he proposes to her.
  Varrick: Now let's go attach these barely functioning rust buckets to a giant killer smashing machine!
  Zhu Li: It's exactly how I always pictured our engagement!
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He sought to escalate the conflict between the Water Tribes so he could profit off it, only to learn too late that Unalaq's ultimate goal served no one, not even himself.
• Being Evil Sucks: He discovers this the hard way after Kuvira ordered him to make a spirit weapon, which he knows is VERY dangerous.
• Belated Love Epiphany: In Book 4, Zhu Li's apparent betrayal and spending a long time away from her makes him realize how much she means to him. He proposes to her in the finale and they get married.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He seems like a lovable and quirky businessman, but he's also very good at manipulating situations to give himself the best deal, even if it means throwing others under the bus to do it.
• Big Bad Friend: To Bolin, not that he realized it at the time. Even after the fact, Bolin seems to hold no hard feelings, even being happy to see him in Zaofu.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Downplayed. Like Tarrlok in season 1, Varrick is a credible threat as he plots to prolong and profit off of the Water Tribes' war, but he's ultimately lower down the ladder to the true Big Bad of the second season, Vaatu. Unlike Tarrlok, he and Unalaq are never truly at odds—Varrick only wanted to go after Unalaq for petty reasons, he didn't know about Vaatu until after his plan failed, and his arc is confined to Republic City as a B-plot nemesis for Mako and Bolin that's ultimately foiled before the final battle. He also has the distinction of surviving his stint as a villain and even getting away scot-free, which can't be said for the others.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. Varrick doesn't even bother hiding his greed and shiftiness, noting most of his actions are out of self-interest, as well as happily inflaming tempers for an uprising, and asking the heroes to pay off the authorities. His charisma and eccentricities allow one to look past his more questionable dealings and see him as appealing and likable, which makes it that much easier for him to manipulate them. Even his line after The Reveal of his status as Big Bad Friend about helping the little guy is full of charm despite being obviously self-serving, and not dissimilar to what he would normally say.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: All of those eccentricities are not a front for anything; he genuinely acts like that. It's how he attracted Zhu Li to work for him, as he is a genuinely brilliant inventor and innovator, just extremely... weird. However, once he proved himself to be a horribly incompetent fighter, even Zhu Li has had enough, and defected because despite his brilliance, she couldn't put up with his utter disregard for her anymore. Ironically, it's hinted that Varrick does indeed care about her, just that he... has a weird way of showing it.
  • It's later revealed that Zhu Li only faked defecting in order to protect Varrick (though the grievances she aired about his treatment of her were legitimate). They even get married in the finale!
• Card-Carrying Villain: Downplayed. Not so much evil, but in Book 2, Varrick is upfront about his not-so-noble intentions to everyone, since they begrudgingly need his help. He makes it clear that if there is no war, there is no money to be made. In Book 3, he takes pride in the fact that he framed Mako (not so much the act itself, but moreso the fact that he was able to pull it). Even in Book 4, Varrick admits he's insane, and he reminded Bataar Jr. to not forget that.
• The Casanova: He is described as a "Howard Hughes playboy kind of character".
• Catchphrase: "Zhu Li, do the thing!" It even made its way into his wedding.
• Cannot Spit It Out: By around the time of the Battle of Zaofu, it's shown that he was developing feelings for Zhu Li. However at every instance he defaults back to his boss behaviour, which annoys her to no end (especially the constant mood whiplashes). In the end he really couldn't spit it out, instead when he proposed to her he used his catchphrase! Good thing Zhu Li knew exactly what he meant.
• Circus Brat: According to him, he grew up on a farm before being taken away by the circus.
• Character Development: His growing a conscience is a plot point in season 4.
• The Chessmaster: First shown in "The Sting" and he only becomes more magnificent from there. He saw the Civil War as a game where he can manipulate both the heroes and villains, but in the end, he found out the hard way he was not in control of the situation.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He'll betray anyone if there's money to be made doing it. He arranged to ruin Asami's company then bought it under the guise of helping her, framed Mako for the same, and tried to kidnap the president as part of schemes even though he backed Raiko in the election. He then backstabs Su for Kuvira during Book 4 and ultimately backstabs Kuvira and joins after realizing how dangerous Kuvira is. From that point onward, he's done betraying others altogether.
• Classic Villain: He represents unlimited Ambition and Greed.
• Cloudcuckoolander: In his debut scene he believed he could levitate, runs around the room erratically and switches topics on the fly. Despite this, he's actually a skilled mastermind.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: He also seems to be a pretty good judge of character. He had Unalaq pegged from the start and prepared accordingly. He also warns Team Avatar that something about Aiwei's investigation into the Red Lotus's infiltration of Zaofu seems fishy, because he recognizes a dirty conspiracy when he sees one due to his experience in hatching them himself. It takes a mastermind to know a mastermind.
• Cool Ship: His battleship. The first of its type ever constructed, bought solely in case he might need it one day. He named it Zhu Li.
  Bolin: ... you named your battleship after your assistant?
  Varrick: Why not? They're both cold, heartless, war machines!
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's willing to go to any lengths necessary to make a buck, even if that means screwing over his allies (covertly, of course). He secretly hijacks Asami's shipments of weapons to the Southern Water Tribe to bankrupt her company, then buys it out so he can profit off those sales. He's also fully willing to help when it's in his interests to do so, lending the Krew a battleship free of charge after he's caught.
• The Corrupter: The Krew's morals take a bit of a dip after he joins the team and Korra begins to listen to his ideas. He advises Asami to engage in war profiteering by selling her father's mecha-tanks to the Southern Water Tribe.
• Crazy-Prepared: He's always prepared for every situation, but the problem is, he doesn't plan well enough about the circumstances involved that his preparedness has blindspots or that he ends up indirectly helping the Big Bad anyways.
  • He mentions he once royally pissed off a Woman Scorned. And he ensured his ship was fast enough to escape her, even if she used waterbending to catch up.
  • His ship also has a plane on board ("In case the boat sinks!"). Alas, he neglected to include a runway.
  • He donated a lot of money to President Raiko's election campaign so that he could get a meeting if he ever needed one. He also donated to his opponent. "Gotta hedge your bets!"
  • He foils Mako's attempts to expose him at every turn.
  • His company built the local prison, and he had a luxury cell made because he figured he'd end up in there eventually. He also had a hang-glider stored in there, just in case he might have a chance to escape.
  • He owns a battleship. Apparently the very first one ever built. Because why not?
  • His spirit nuke has a timer and a remote.
    Varrick: First I built the timer, but then I thought, "well, you could drag me off the train," so I built a remote, but then I thought, "Well, do I really need the timer anymore because I got a remote?" Whatever! I'm covering all my bases.
• Crazy Sane: He's an amoral goofball with the emotional maturity of an eight-year-old...but he's still a brilliant schemer who can see through others and walk away from many perilous situations unscatched.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Varrick is a lot more cunning than his eccentric nature would let you know.
• Curious Qualms of Conscience: After inadvertently discovering the true power of the Spirit Vine Energy he was researching, he suddenly wants to scuttle the whole research project, citing a strange "head voice" that is telling him right from wrong. This jump-starts his redemption arc into an more solidly good guy.
• The Dandy: He's known for his flamboyant fashion choices.
• Defector from Decadence: After Kuvira threatens him to keep him working on the Spirit Vine project, he and Bolin decide Kuvira is insane and flee.
• Demoted to Dragon: After being an independent villain in Book 2 and comic relief in Book 3, he serves as Kuvira's chief scientist in Book 4. Technically, he was hired into the position, later to realize the horrible lengths Kuvira wants him to go, which leads him to have a Heel–Face Turn for good.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Has a tendency to state fairly amoral things openly, which most people seem to ignore as simply Varrick being Varrick. This aids in his schemes, as people dismiss what would be considered hints of duplicity as mere quirkiness. Unalaq's occupation only makes it convenient enough for Varrick to prove to everyone what a liar the chieftain is while throwing off any suspicion of himself.
• Devoted to You: It's unbelievable how Zhu Li manages to stay with him despite the way he treats her and how she puts up with his antics and all the troubles he gets them into. She even tells Varrick he means the world to her when they are reunited after her fake betrayal.
• Diabolical Mastermind: Varrick has no allegiance but to himself: he genuinely hates Unalaq, but his struggle against him was for his own personal gain. We see what a master schemer he is in Book 2: His alliance with the rebels, Team Avatar, as well as his first attack on Unalaq, were all just to speed up his agenda to start a war, and escalate it to make huge profit. Of course, he relies on his men to do the dirty work.
• Didn't See That Coming: Varrick's whole plan to escalate the Civil War worked up until he discovered Vaatu was involved. Imprisonment aside, it was at that point where he had to concede that his plan to create a huge war just for the sake of profit would be far from salvageable.
• Divine Intervention: In Book 3, he claims the universe freed him from prison, though no one buys it.
• Ditzy Genius: He's a skilled and canny businessman, a gifted engineer... and a total cloudcuckoolander.
• The Dog Bites Back: He's on the receiving end of one of these when Zhu Li finally snaps under years of ingratitude after they get re-captured by Kuvira's troops in "Enemy At The Gates". Unlike a lot of examples of this trope, Varrick is genuinely taken off-guard by this before being dragged away by the guards holding him, at Zhu Li's order. However, it's zigzagged. She turned out to be faking the defection in order to sabotage Kuvira from the inside, but she was genuinely sick of being treated like crap and demanded to be treated as an equal.
• Driven to Suicide: In book 4, as a result of both Kuvira's actions and Zhu Li's betrayal. He survives because of Bolin.
• Easily Forgiven: When they meet again in Book 3, Bolin holds no hard feelings. Everyone else, not so much. Later on, he's still not forgiven, but he's only accepted back because they need him. Even President Raiko makes it clear he doesn't like him.
• Eccentric Millionaire: An extremely rich businessman who uses his wealth for strange things like a platybus-bear costume that poops money.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Double Subverted. Varrick isn't by any means trustworthy, but he convinces the Krew to work with him after Unalaq's occupation of the Southern Water Tribe gets too extreme for either of their tastes, then ends up manipulating them into intensifying the conflict so he can profit off it. However, when he's caught and thrown in prison, he still aids them by giving them his fully-loaded battleship. In Book 3, despite some lingering animosity from Asami and Mako, he gladly aids them in finding the mole in Zaofu.
  • In Book 4, Asami agrees to work with him to stop Kuvira's spirit vine weapon, but makes very clear that she hasn't forgiven him◊ at all and will be watching him like a hawk.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Played with. Varrick will do whatever it takes to get rich, but there are certain lines that he won't cross, like blatant murder, at least not directly, but he will non-lethally demonstrate to his enemies he means business. For example, in "The Guide", he makes a Shame If Something Happened threat to Mako regarding Asami and Bolin, but when Mako doesn't go for it, he just frames Mako instead of following through. In the episode "Night of a Thousand Stars", he insists that he never intended to hurt President Raiko after kidnapping him.
  • He makes it clear that he never liked or trusted Unalaq and caught onto his more sinister nature when no one else did. Considering what a monster Unalaq turned out to be, he's pretty justified.
  • In "Enemy at the Gates", he immediately shuts down the spirit vine project when trying to tap their power accidentally creates a spirit laser. Kuvira, however, forces him to keep working on it. Furthermore, in "Operation Beifong" President Raiko tells him to create spirit vine weapons to put them on equal footing with Kuvira and he absolutely refuses.
  • "Kuvira's Gambit" has him outright stating he shouldn't have built the weapon in the first place.
• Evil All Along: Or at least Amoral All Along. He never tried to hide it.
• Evil Duo: With Zhu Li. An odd case where the id is the dominant, scheming one in the relationship. He and Zhu Li later drop the "evil" part.
• Evil Mentor: Varrick is far from "evil", but he is morally ambiguous and causes some of Team Avatar to stretch their morals.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: At first it started out as Evil Versus Evil with Unalaq, as Varrick's whole agenda was to start a war against him, and escalate it by planning false flag operations that blamed the Northern Water Tribe, so that planned war could increase his profits. However, once it was revealed that Unalaq was working for Vaatu, he had no idea that the war he tried to escalate would bring Republic City up against the spirit of darkness that seeks to bring about an apocalypse. As a result, Team Avatar was almost desperate for help from Varrick against Unalaq, even if Varrick used them for his own ends.
• Eviler than Thou: He finds himself on the receiving end of this when Kuvira threatens to kill him and forces him to build a spirit weapon that has more destructive potential than he anticipated. Varrick even admits Kuvira is more insane than he.
• Farm Boy: Varrick grew up on a farm and his father was a poor seal hunter.
• Flanderization: Post Book 2, the inventor aspect of him has more emphasis rather than profiteering.
• Foil: To Asami — Both are fabulously rich industrialists, brilliant multi-discipline engineers as well as savvy in the boardroom, and have a flexible interpretation of legality in order to get things done. Asami, however, is of a far stronger moral caliber than Varrick, and is less... flamboyant. Varrick also has an insufferable way of brushing off losses, while Asami keenly feels the sting of such losses personally.
• Friendly Enemy: He presents himself as this to everyone. However, Mako doesn't return the sentiment.
• Gadgeteer Genius:
  • Implied. In "Old Wounds", he appears testing a magnetized suit of armor, implied to be his own invention. It comes as no surprise, considering he is at the forefront of technological advancements. In Book 4, he serves as Kuvira's chief scientist and was responsible for her army of mecha. He's also capable of rewiring the spirit vines into a Fantastic Nuke.
  • Confirmed in "Reunion", when he jury rigs an EMP device that shuts down a squad of Earth Empire Mini-Mecha out of a generator and a few other odds and ends, in just a few minutes.
• "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Varrick is an enemy on numerous occasions, but always lands on his feet when he's caught. After his plan to take over Future Industries fails, he gets Kuvira to force Raiko to pardon him, and after siding with Kuvira turns sour, he manages to buy his freedom in Republic City by revealing Kuvira's superweapon, and afterwards is recruited for Republic City because he's one of the two greatest scientists in the world.
• Graceful Loser: Takes his arrest in stride and still helps Team Avatar out. At some point, he knew he wasn’t going to be in the clear for long.
• Greed: One of his main faults is that he will do anything to get a quick buck. Case in point, one of his main concerns with the Civil War is how it will affect how much he can make.
• Guile Hero: He's more like an Anti-Hero. He aids Team Avatar by providing them his boat and an airplane and uses a Platypus Bear disguise that can poop money to use the crowds as an escape method. Morally questionable, maybe. Downright effective? Yes.
• Happily Married: In the comics, following his marriage to Zhu Li he proves to be a supportive and loving husband who can utilise his usual scheming to her advanatge by helping get her elected as the new President of the United Republic.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: A textbook example. He starts out an ally to the heroes in early season two, betrays them and hatches his own scheme against them by the midway point of the arc, joins up with their ally Suyin in season three and helps them weed out the mole in Zaofu, then betrays Suyin in season four to join Kuvira's Earth Empire, though he's more of a Punch-Clock Villain. Then he attempts to leave Kuvira and joins up with the heroes for good in "Enemy at the Gates" after having some Curious Qualms of Conscience over his spirit vine energy discoveries.
• Heel–Face Turn: In Season 3 Suyin seems to believe Varrick has turned over a new leaf for good, though Lin, Mako and Asami beg to differ, and they treat every instance of working with him as an Enemy Mine situation. In Season 4 this is played with when he joins up with Kuvira, who starts out as a hero, at least until she forces him into developing superweapons and states that he has somehow recently develop a conscience.
• Heroic Sacrifice: After being forced to keep working on the spirit vine weapon, he instead creates a bomb to blow up all his work along with himself, fully intending to die until Bolin figures a way out of it.
• Howard Hughes Homage: A brilliant inventor and a wealthy businessman who is one of the pioneers of his setting's movie industry. And calling him "eccentric" would be putting it mildly.
• Informed Attribute: Varrick was described as a playboy in related material, but he never was seen behaving this way onscreen, save his passing mention of an ex-girlfriend who was a waterbender.
• Innocently Insensitive: Judging by his shock in "Enemy at the Gates", he honestly had no clue that Zhu Li was feeling underappreciated.
• Insistent Terminology: Throughout Season 4, he will repeatedly insist that he only "allegedly [did this or that bad thing]", since he escaped prison before getting a proper trial and thus was never condemned.
• Irony: After several episodes of being a Karma Houdini, Varrick is finally exposed by Bolin, the one he took under his wing and made the star of his big movie.
• It's All About Me: He'll help anyone as long as it helps himself.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's selfish, greedy and manipulative, but he's shown to be genuinely caring and kind to the Krew and has good intentions, even if it's partly to make a profit. In Book 4, he states that he was looking to create a source of clean, limitless energy from spirit vines and was horrified at the idea of weaponizing them.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: However, while he supports the Southern Water Tribe and Team Avatar, he's only helping out of self-interest and to spite Unalaq, and then it is shown he is still a shrewd and ruthless businessman by essentially scamming Asami out of her business.
  Varrick: I like to think I'm always there to stand up for the little guy. Especially if that little guy can help this guy become a bigger guy!
  • Later on in the series however, he's gained a touch of sincerity.
• Joker Immunity: It seems nothing can contain him, and he survives either by cunning or dumb luck. Vaatu's attack during Harmonic Convergence destroyed his prison and allowed him to escape. He even lampshades this saying that the universe saw fit to set him free.
• Karma Houdini: Varrick is jailed for kidnapping President Raiko but this just means chilling out in a luxury prison suite, and he escapes shortly afterward anyway. Then he takes up residence in Zaofu and continues business as usual. Justified as Republic City's police force lacks jurisdiction in Zaofu. When he returns to Republic City in Book Four as part of Kuvira army Varrick reveals that Kuvira forced Raiko to drop all criminal charges against him.
• Keet: An odd adult example. His energy level is about the same as Meelo most of the time.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: In Season 2, he attempted to kidnap Unalaq, as he rightfully deserved it. It failed thanks to Korra's interference.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After Varrick got caught in Book 2, it later became evident that his plan was far from salvageable, so during Vaatu's attack, he makes a getaway, knowing that he wouldn't last a week with Vaatu's fury.

L-P

• Lack of Empathy: In Season 2, Varrick attempts to escalate the Water Tribe Civil War all for the sake of war profiteering. When he gets confronted by the gang about that, he shows indifference about that, his power grab of Sato Industries, and framing Mako and getting him sent to jail. In Season 4, he finally undergoes a Heel–Face Turn after realizing the trying to weaponize the Spirit Trees is dangerous. He's horrified that he is developing a conscience (though more that it's like having voices in his head).
• Ladykiller in Love: Although, the "ladykiller" part is more of an Informed Attribute. During Book 4, Varrick realizes his feelings for Zhu Li and marries by the series finale.
• Large Ham: One of the largest hams in either series. He often has No Indoor Voice and almost always accentuates his bombastic speaking with large physical movements.
• Last-Name Basis: Only in the finale do we find out Varrick actually was his last name the whole time.
• Laughably Evil: Despite all the less than legal, morally questionable things he has done, it's very hard to hate him, even as a villain. Even when he's threatening his victims, he adds good honest humor in the process.
• Lesser of Two Evils: In comparison to Vaatu, he's just a greedy, yet diabolical human, not some world ending disaster. Despite this, trusting him was just as costly as trusting Unalaq.
• Loophole Abuse: Varrick tries to perform questionable acts within legal boundaries, but he still commits other crimes in the process of said abuse:
  • Varrick blew up the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center during a peaceful demonstration and says this is okay because he owns the building. While he does indeed have every right to blow up his own property, he did it without warning and people within vicinity could’ve gotten injured or killed, which is very much makes it criminally negligent manslaughter.
  • Varrick was never given a trial to confirm his complicity in his crimes, but he still escaped prison and avoided trial, which are still pretty serious offenses themselves.
• Lovable Coward: He continuously hid from Unalaq's men after a failed assassination attempt on the Chief, but he did this because he was sure the trial would be rigged. Being a non-bender and general non-combatant, he wouldn't be able to do much in the field.
• Lovable Traitor: He's got it down pat. While Mako and Asami are mad at him for his betrayal, they had to accept his help due to the situation having crossed the Godzilla Threshold. Bolin, however, can't even stay mad at him despite his past actions.
• Luxury Prison Suite: He had a cell in the prison built into this because he felt he would end up in it at some point.
• Manchild: He acts like a kindergartner with an overactive imagination.
• Mad Scientist: After taking refuge in Zaofu, he tends to be a trouble maker as shown when he causes some trouble while he experiments with his new armor. Plus, there are his experiments in Season 4 with the spirit vines, in which he accidentally creates a Fantastic Nuke.
• Manipulative Bastard: Plays Asami to buy out Future Industries, while acting as if he was helping to save it. Even before that, he managed to start off the Civil War sooner as opposed to letting tensions unravel by themselves. Once all this happens, his plan to escalate the war for personal gain is set in motion.
• Master of Disguise: Hides in a platypus-bear suit with Zhu Li to evade being arrested. Like everything else about him, he has unorthodox ideas about hiding but he was never detected.
• Mentor Archetype: Seems to take up this role with Bolin, giving him tips on dealing with Eska and getting him into a career as a movie star.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: When Varrick first expressed reservations and doubts about building Spirit-based weaponry, Kuvira really should've made some attempt to talk him down or manipulate him into seeing things her way. Instead she threatens to throw him off a moving train at the first sign of dissent; he switches sides shortly after.
• Moment Killer: He's guilty of this as much as Unalaq. He is quite rude to the point of popping up in the middle of serious events, such as immediately barging in after Unalaq's speech or testing a magnetic suit of armor on a room where Korra and Suyin were discussing the latter's relationship with her sister. In book 4 he kills his own moment with Zhu Li after he saves her from falling off the train by telling her to clean up the mess he made.
• Motor Mouth: When forging a deal or showing off a product it's hard to keep up with him. It's quite likely that this is the point.
• Muggle: He's a non-bender, and he's more of a schemer than a combatant.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Though "hero" was rather questionable in both instances:
  • By sending his men to attack Unalaq, Varrick helped Unalaq find an excuse to screw over Tonraq, which almost got Tonraq killed, causing a chain of events that led to a civil war. In hindsight, though, he had Unalaq accurately pegged from the start. If anything, he merely sped up a confrontation that would have happened anyway, and in doing so kept Unalaq from consolidating his plans first. The worst part, though, is that Tonraq would've ended up in prison at the North Pole had it not been for Korra's intervention, and Unalaq's plans to unleashing apocalypse have been accelerated. It turns out that failing works out for him anyway, because it was all part of the plan. Varrick still got his war, and his escape allows him to profit off it. On the other hand, if he had successfully captured or killed Unalaq, it would have diffused the plan to release Vaatu at a very early stage in the plot, but it would still provoke a war he can profit from.
  • He accidentally created an artificial version of Vaatu's energy beam attack while trying to harness spirit-vine energy to create an unlimited clean power source. While Varrick realized this was a huge mistake and immediately tries to shut the experiment down, Kuvira forced him to weaponize it.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Varrick unknowingly does this to Unalaq. Had it not been for Varrick's plan to attack Unalaq and start a civil war and exploit it for profit, Korra likely never would have discovered her uncle's true nature, or at least it would have taken her far longer.
  • Also extends to Future Industries - after he conned Asami into selling him a controlling interest, he resuscitated the flailing Future Industries to expand his own enterprises. When he was thrown in prison, however, the company defaulted back to Asami due to the fraudulent nature of the acquisition, giving her control of a fully revitalized Future Industries.
• No Man Should Have This Power: Varrick had been interested in using the spirit vines as a clean source of energy. After running a test however, it produced a giant spirit ray, and he concluded it was too unstable and too powerful for anyone, especially him, to handle. When he learned what Kuvira was going to use it for, he had to shut down the project because it was even more dangerous to let someone like her have access to that kind of power.
• Nominal Hero: Though he's on the heroes' side, his participation is out of self-interest. He's not helping the good guys for the independence of the Southern Water Tribe, he's only rebelling just to get back at Unalaq for threatening his business. And to make money, of course. Later on, it became evident that he's no hero and that he was only playing everyone else.
• Non-Action Big Bad: He is a very skilled tactician and can plan successful false flag operations, but he wouldn't be useful in the field of combat.
• Not Actually the Ultimate Question: It's hard to tell if he was being serious.
  Asami: Varrick? What are you doing here?
  Varrick: Good question, Asami! I mean, what are we all doing here? Food for thought.
• Not Helping Your Case: Also counts as Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!. He tries to remind the Krew of everything he's done for them after they have a falling out.
  Varrick: Korra, who warned you about Unalaq? I did! Bolin, who got you into the movers? I did! Asami, who saved your company? I did! Mako, who got you thrown in jail?! I did! Oh yeah, I guess that was a bad thing.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Apparently once had similar relationship-issues-with-crazy-waterbender as Bolin had in season 2.
  • Near the end of season 4, he's describing growing up on a farm, and casually mentions "this was before the circus people came and took me away." No further explanation is given.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Varrick didn't care much for Korra's cause and independence. He may be focused on making money off of the war, but did want to stick it to Unalaq, so they had a common enemy.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Varrick may be an eccentric, Laughably Evil villain, but make no mistake; he is a criminal mastermind who can and will let you know he means business without resorting to bodily harm. Mako finds out the hard way what happens when he crosses him.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Acts like an eccentric to hide a rather devious mind. When Mako was convincing Lin to hear his idea that exposes Varrick, Varrick immediately acted obnoxious making Lin stop wanting to hear them out.
• Oblivious to Love: Doesn't grab it when Zhu Li confess to him "you mean the world to me" up until he proposes to her.
• Obviously Evil: Played With. When we see him in Book 2, he doesn't hide his intentions and greediness, and his demeanor gives off the impression that he's an enemy one is supposed to be fighting. Even when he makes his intentions clear, anything evil about him is beneath notice because it doesn't sound out of place with his usual personality. However, he's the least malevolent of any antagonist who appears.
• Odd Friendship: With Bolin, after Bolin notes he wasn't actually levitating. He even gives Bolin tips on how to deal with a crazy girlfriend (put simply: ditch the chick). After he's arrested, Bolin is the only one who still likes him, though it helps that Varrick has done nothing but make him famous.
• Oh, Crap!: After taking everything in stride for so long, it's quite shocking when he finally has one of these at Zhu Li's betrayal.
• One-Man Industrial Revolution: Over the course of the series, Varrick creates moving pictures (and film industry), a battlecruiser, a maglev train system and his setting's equivalent of nuclear fusion.
• Only in It for the Money: This becomes more clear after The Reveal during "The Sting". Varrick was serious about wanting to defeat Unalaq, but he wanted to kill two birds with one stone; not only would he defeat Unalaq, but he would make money doing so.
• Only Sane Man: For all his greed and self-serving motivations, he's the first person to know that Unalaq was up to no good from the very moment Unalaq brought his blockade, and he's the first person to defy him. On top of that, he knew Unalaq was going to rig the rebels' trial. Too bad Korra couldn't take Varrick seriously.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He even lampshades it when his own conscience is telling him to stop working on the spirit vine tech instead of him focusing on all the money he could make something is very wrong with the situation.
• Out of Focus: He doesn't appear much in Book Three, but is on decent terms with Team Avatar, and lends them some rather key advice regarding Aiwei's potential treachery.
• Pet the Dog:
  • He shows he does have some lines he won't cross after all. After he gets caught, he apologizes and lets the protagonists use his battleship. And he points out that he did help them out at some points (such as warning Korra about Unalaq and getting Bolin into acting). He does get stuck in this line of thinking, saying how he saved Asami's company, but he's part of the reason it was in trouble in the first place. The only true act of generosity without any monetary motivation was giving Team Avatar his battleship.
  • In Book 4, as a scientist he turns out to have some level of ethics as he decided to shut down the spirit vine project after it proves to be too dangerous, believing that it could prove destructive in the wrong hands. Unfortunately for him, it's already in the wrong hands: Kuvira, his research benefactor.
• Playing Both Sides:
  • Supported both candidates in the Republic City presidential election, just to hedge his bets.
  • To an extent he tried to do this in order to create a huge war he can profit from, by antagonizing both sides into the conflict. First, he sent his rebels to attack Unalaq, and it led to a civil war regardless of whether or not the attack failed. Then to add more fuel to the fire, he antagonized Republic City by planning a series of false flag operations that implicate the Northern Water Tribe. He even had his goons dressed in Northern military uniforms attack the president, but that failed.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Shares this role with Bolin in the second season, even if he turned out to be an antagonist.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Varrick had a backup plan to retrieve his men in case they failed to capture Unalaq. Based upon how he treated Zhu Li, Varrick wasn't known to treat his underlings well, but he knew his resources were limited, rescuing them under the assumption that he'd need all the assets he can get for his plan, so he saw no point being wasteful. Despite this, said rebels switch loyalties to Tonraq.
• Properly Paranoid: Varrick understands very well what moves the villains will make (because he's an evil mastermind himself)— he knew Unalaq was trying to ruin their people, and knew Unalaq was going to put his men through a Kangaroo Court. Varrick also knew the evidence to identify the inside man in Zaofu fell into place all too quickly, and that made it fishy.
• Punch-Clock Villain: In Book 4, he sees working with Kuvira as another business venture and scientific endeavor for himself, as opposed to the master schemer he was in Book 2.

R-Y

• Rags to Riches: Born a poor seal-hunter's son, he built his shipping business from a single canoe into a global powerhouse.
• Rebel Leader: He organizes a resistance against Unalaq. However, he is more concerned with the effect Unalaq's blockade is having on his business rather than the continued independence of the Southern Tribe. Since a number of his men defected to Tonraq, this complicates things, and he wants make sure the war is fought on HIS terms—which means as much profit as possible.
• Redemption Equals Life: Played with. Varrick could not let Kuvira use a spirit weapon for her own purposes, so he decided to blow up his research, and himself along with it. Fortunately, Bolin saved him at the last minute. However, Bolin only did so not because of his change of heart, but because his idea to blow themselves up was outright stupid and reckless.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He is loud-mouth, insensitive the Red Oni to Zhu Li's practical, nicer Blue Oni.
• Reluctant Mad Scientist: Upon the creation of said nuke, he immediately shuts down the project. Kuvira however forces him to continue the project lest she decides to execute him.
• Renaissance Man: Varrick is well-disciplined and knowledgeable in various fields of science, having spearheaded several technological advancements. His breakthroughs include applications of magnetism, such as a high-speed maglev train, and the stabilization of spirit energy, though he later discovered that it was too dangerous for anyone to handle. He is also good at thinking on his feet, being able to create a makeshift electromagnetic pulse device with the aid of a metal table leg and an electric generator as well as being a capable businessman.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: He knew all along that Unalaq was up to no good. However, he doesn't know the full extent of Unalaq's true agenda, which was to free Vaatu. Instead, he made the assumption that Unalaq is threatening his businesses, an assumption he used to rally people behind him. The only thing he got right was that Unalaq was rigging a trial he failed to appear in.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: He's not above bribery or just tossing out money to get his way.
• Self-Made Man: Varrick had to work from a single canoe to where he is today. Needless to say, that is rather impressive.
• Shadow Archetype: To Asami; both are nonbending, inventing business people. But Varrick represents a selfish, morally questionable Asami.
• Shame If Something Happened: To Mako about Asami and Bolin when Mako is trying to reveal his fraud. This was a bluff, though, and Varrick instead opted to frame Mako.
• Shipper on Deck: During his "retelling" in Remembrances, Varrick tells Bolin that in the story, Opal will eventually forgive him.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: To the Krew, though it takes them a while to figure it out. He wants control of any business which will profit off the Water Tribe civil war, and has no problem manipulating or betraying his supposed friends to do it. Even after they get him arrested, he still considers them friends for the most part and states that he's done good things for each of them (save for Mako, who he had framed and arrested).
• Solid Cartoon Facial Stubble: When on the run in Book 4, Varrick has gray stubble running across his jaw and beneath his signature mustache, implying he doesn't currently have the luxury of shaving.
• Staring Contest: Engages one with Asami as a means to see her worth as a good business partner. It seems to his way of reading her character.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy: In Book 4, he's the eccentric, sarcastic Wise Guy to Bolin's serious and reasonable Straight Man.
• Talking in Your Sleep: Does this after Zhu Li betrays him. He's talking to her.
• This Means War!: His happy-go-lucky persona only goes so far. When his business is threatened, he's willing to go to extremes to protect his interests. He was behind Unalaq's assassination attempt after the latter closed the Southern Water Tribe harbors from traffic, and he still got his war. However, this became a huge mistake on his part. Unalaq's arrival gave him the opportunity to instigate a war and make even more profit from it, yet he did not expect that Unalaq would release an evil that will destroy everything, which ultimately compromises his agenda.
• Token Evil Teammate:
  • To Team Avatar and the Rebels, or at least "Morally dubious", anyway. He's not that evil, just has self-interests which he prioritizes above all-else. His reasons for fighting against Unalaq were rather petty.
  • He's this to his new associates in Zaofu. Unlike the previous Book, however, his behavior borders more on lacking common sense and manners. He is the resident Mad Scientist who tends to be quite rude and insensitive in a setting of refined, serious characters, not to mention throwing in good, honest craziness along the way. For context, one of his co-workers used to be a pirate.
• Token Good Teammate: Shares this role with Bolin among the Earth Empire - even he thinks Kuvira is going too far, and he is reluctant to continue work on the spirit vine project due to the potential for it to fall into the wrong hands.
• Took a Level in Kindness: His Character Development in Book 4 has him growing a conscience and also realizing his feelings for Zhu Li, leading to him asking for her hand in marriage (in his own way).
• Toxic Friend Influence: Agrees to help Team Avatar resolve the conflict with Unalaq and the Northern Water Tribe. A couple of episodes later, they're helping him smuggle weapons and manufacture racist, exploitative propaganda movies in order to further his elaborate war-profiteering scam. It's remarkable how logical the progression between these two points seems at the time...
• The Triads and the Tongs: He's not above hiring them to further his interests, but he finds ways to be blameless when they're involved.
• Turncoat: He only rebelled against Unalaq and the Water Tribe because he believed it will benefit him personally, which in this case, is profit. Unalaq's arrival gave him the opening he needed, and was the only one who could help the heroes escape Unalaq's wrath. As helpful as he was at first, he was merely a traitor and nothing more. He then turns from Team Avatar to continue his own agenda.
• Villain Has a Point: Even though Team Avatar ended up Unwitting Pawns to Varrick's scheme, everyone, save for Mako, got something that benefited them in the process. You can't really argue with him when he states that his less than altruistic actions helped them. Case in point, he knew Unalaq couldn't be trusted, and that was a game changer.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Despite rumors of connections with organized crime, Varrick is well-respected and very influential. After he's exposed as a villain and breaks out of prison, he just migrates to Zaofu and sets up shop there. Suyin is aware that he is a criminal, but was willing to give him a second chance.
• Villainous Underdog: Varrick is the poster boy for this trope. He's not a bender, not a spirit and especially not even a Badass Normal, yet he ends up being a threat to be reckoned with. Varrick is just a Corrupt Corporate Executive who relies solely on strategy and subterfuge to successfully execute an elaborate Evil Plan that would make him rich. He pulled it off rather gloriously for much of his arc in Book 2.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He develops this relationship with Bolin in Book 4.
• Wacky Marriage Proposal: Proposes to Zhu Li with "will you do the thing for the rest of our lives?".
• War for Fun and Profit: Sets up a string of false-flag operations to escalate the Water Tribe civil war whilst conning Team Avatar into helping him make a buck by selling them weapons, all the while driving Future Industries into bankruptcy so he can buy a controlling interest and earn more money off the sales.
  Varrick: If you can't make money during a war, then you just plain can't make money!
• Weak, but Skilled: While Varrick is a Non-Action Guy, he's still an impressive Gadgeteer Genius able to jury rig an EMP device that shuts down a squad of Earth Empire Mini-Mecha out of a generator and a few other odds and ends, in just a few minutes.
• Wealthy Yacht Owner: Along with being rich, he owns an luxurious yacht.
• What Is This Feeling?: He needs Zhu Li to tell him that he's developing feelings of empathy and a conscience.
• White-Collar Crime: Varrick defrauded Asami into selling him controlling interest by stealing Future Industries merchandise while she was distracted.
• Who Needs Enemies?: Varrick wanted to stop Unalaq as much Korra did, but he only wanted to help them because he felt Unalaq was threatening his business. Varrick wanted more from fighting against Unalaq. He masterminded an attack on Unalaq which would result in a civil war, regardless of whether or not Korra intervened. Then, he exploits the heroes' need for military support to advance his scheme of bringing the United Republic to war so that he can make a profit from it. Varrick betrays them by secretly plotting terrorist attacks and defrauding Asami, and only Mako knew of this betrayal.
• Wicked Cultured: He has good taste in luxury and clothing and affords all of it with dirty schemes in business.
• Wild Card: Ultimately, Varrick is loyal to himself above all else and will use anyone as long as he can profit from them, even people that he seems to honestly like such as Team Avatar, or Kuvira, the latter of which backfired on him horribly.
• The Wonka: Despite being a rather manic character, he is evidently a very influential businessman. For instance, his idea of testing Asami of how good she'd be as a business partner involved a brief Staring Contest. His voice actor, John Michael Higgins, describes him as "part Rupert Murdoch, part Thomas Edison, part Bozo the Clown."
• Xanatos Gambit: He's constantly setting things up so he'll come out ahead regardless of the outcome. As he says, "You gotta hedge your bets!"
  • Whether or not Korra foiled his attempted kidnapping/assassination of Unalaq would've yielded the same result anyway—a pretext for war.
  • Making money off the civil war; does he care who wins? Only that Unalaq loses. ^note  This wouldn't have panned out in the long run with Vaatu's return, but he had no way of knowing that, which shot his plan down from the very begining.
  • Donating heavily to both sides of an election so he has influence with the eventual winner.
  • Creating a luxury prison suite in case he was caught and a hang-glider to escape from it if he wanted too.
• You're Insane!: He was on the receiving end of this when he set the spirit vine power generator to overload as a gambit to escape Baatar Jr.
  Baatar Jr: You're Insane!
  Varrick: You knew that when you hired me!

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Zhu Li Moon

Voiced by Stephanie Sheh, Bożena Furczyk(Polish)

Varrick: "Zhu Li, do the thing!!"

Varrick's personal assistant.

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A-H

• Ascended Extra: Started off as a Satellite Character, but got more importance, screentime and characterization in Book 4. Continued on in Turf Wars where she's not only organizing the refugees more (read: at all) than President Raiko, but she's offering Varrick Global Industries' resources to fix the housing problem without Varrick in sight and if that's not enough, Part 2 reveals she plans to run against Raiko in the election, with Part 3 revealing she won!
• Badass Adorable: Both Varrick and Bolin give her high praises. She may be a very cute young woman, but she's not nearly as helpless as she looks. Varrick says she carried him for 20 miles a day with a sprained ankle, and she's an extremely capable mech-suit pilot.
• Battle Butler: While she typically performs tasks such as making tea or starting a film projector, when she, Varrick, and Bolin are escaping in Mini-Mecha, she holds her own very well.
• Battle Couple: With Varrick, briefly. Though they've mostly worked on the tech side of things, they go into the field against Kuvira's giant mech right after he proposes to her.
  Varrick: Now let's go attach these barely functioning rust buckets to a giant killer smashing machine!
  Zhu Li: It's exactly how I always pictured our engagement!
• Beleaguered Assistant: Poor girl has to constantly be on the move with a boss like Varrick barking orders every two minutes. She even ends up in the same Luxury Prison Suite as he does.
• Benevolent Boss: As Bolin's boss, once she becomes President and he starts working for her. She lets him take time off from work to help Korra with Avatar stuff.
• Bespectacled Cutie: A very cute bespectacled woman with a sweet and reserved personality.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Zhu Li is more kinder and sensitive than Varrick, but knows how to handle a mecha suit and to tell off Varrick for being a jerk.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: She's quiet and reserved, but can be cold and ruthless when in battle.
• Character Development: Book 2 and 3 has Zhu Li following whatever command Varrick gave her, no matter how ridiculous. However, come Book 4, she gets fed up with his insensitivity and ungratefulness towards her and the actions she's done to only support him. And even after she was revealed to be a Fake Defector, she stands her ground when he reverts to his old ways demanding that, if he wants her back, it will be as equal partners. In the comics, she begins to assert herself more, letting the others encourage her to run against Raiko for president, and going so far as to intimidate Varrick into giving her a massage when he tries to tell her that giving him one will make her feel better.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Again, she's Varrick's personal assistant.
• The Comically Serious: The fact she never changes her tone of voice in spite of sharing a Platypus Bear suit with her boss for what was implied for over a day, she being the one carrying him, and staying there even while on the boat puts her on par with Tenzin.
• Defiant to the End: When Kuvira finds out she was a Fake Defector and sabotaged the spirit ray:
  "You are a monster! I regret nothing!"
• The Dog Bites Back: She fakes this against Varrick to gain Kuvira's trust. Played straight when they reunite and Varrick simply treats her as a lackey after she spills her heart out to him, at which point she demands to be treated as an equal.
• Emotionless Girl: It takes a lot to ruffle her calm, stoic exterior; for 2 and a half seasons, she hardly ever speaks or changes the expression on her face. Like Mai in the original series, her ability to control her emotions and hide her true thoughts gives her an advantage over the villainess who believes there's nothing dangerous beneath the surface.
• Evil Duo: With Varrick. She's the superego, always calm, cool, and stoic, no matter what insane situation Varrick drags her into. She and Varrick later drop the "evil" part.
• Face Death with Dignity: After Kuvira orders her death once her sabotage comes to light, she remains as unflappable as ever, with no hint of a breakdown in sight.
• Fake Defector: Her defection to Kuvira was a complete lie in order to get closer to the spirit vine project.
• First-Name Basis: It isn't known that she even has a surname until the finale when Varrick proposes to her.
• Girl Friday: Her job description is simply "Zhu Li, do ___."
• Good All Along: She only pretended to switch sides.
• Happily Married: In the comics, she is this with Varrick who makes good on his promise of treating her as an equal and helps her get elected as President of the United Republic.
• Hidden Depths: Despite her Servile Snarker and The Comically Serious tendencies, it seems she may be just as crazy as Varrick considering how she dreamily notes that "Attaching [a] barely-functional rustbucket to a giant killer Smashing Machine!" is how she always pictured her and Varrick's engagement.
• Human Pack Mule:
  • She's forced to carry all the luggage.
  • Taken to Made of Iron levels when we learn that after Varrick's escape at the end of Book 2, she carried him twenty miles on a sprained ankle.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: This is a woman who can be told "do the thing", knows unquestioningly what "the thing" is and never makes a mistake while "doing the thing". When Varrick has to use Bolin as a substitute, he has to do all the work himself because Bolin simply can't keep up.
  • This is an asset during Turf Wars in organizing the relief effort like a well-oiled machine while Raiko is simply concerned with reelection.

I-U

• Ignored Enamored Underling: Zig Zagged. It's implied that the reason she put up with Varrick for so long is due to having a crush on him whilst he is Oblivious to Love and continually takes her for granted. However, in Season 4 she betrays him due to his mistreatment of her and lists the ways in which he's made her suffer over the years. Whilst this was all a ruse to get closer to Kuvira it is implied that she drew on genuine feelings and it is enough to make Varrick undergo Character Development. When they reunite he proposes to her.
• Informed Attribute: Played for Laughs as Varrick claims that she's a cold, heartless war machine out of the blue, when she'd really not shown herself to be anything like that. She proves that she can fight by piloting a Mini-Mecha in "Enemy at the Gates".
• I Regret Nothing: Said word for word when she is revealed to have never actually betrayed Varrick and was actively working on sabotaging the spirit vine weapon. Cold, heartless war machine indeed.
• Ironic Echo: After Kuvira lets up on her, she tells the guards to take Varrick away.
  Zhu Li: Guards, do the thing!
• Living Emotional Crutch: When Varrick believed that Zhu Li betrayed him to join up with Kuvira, he fully intended to die on the train with the spirit vine cannon.
• Love Martyr: She always does anything Varrick tells her to do and remains by his side, no matter how much he treats her as a slave. At last she has enough, confronts him about his lack of appreciation of her efforts and demands that he treat her as an equal. Varrick's marriage proposal comes swiftly after this.
• Meaningful Name: "Zhu Li" is Chinese for "assistant".
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: She betrays Varrick and pledges her loyalty to Kuvira once she finally gets fed up with Varrick's antics and his poor treatment of her, though it's later revealed that she was simply trying to get close enough to Kuvira to sabotage her superweapon. However, she really was fed up with Varrick not treating her like an equal.
• Muggle: A nonbender.
• Nerves of Steel: In "Operation Beifong", she really proves how badass she is as her betrayal of Varrick was an act in order to get closer to Kuvira's superweapon and sabotage it. She nearly succeeds, until Kuvira finds a missing part of the superweapon on her person with her metalbending. Even then, she stands up to Kuvira and straight up calls her a monster.
• Nice Girl: Zhu Li is more polite, reasonable, and tolerable than Varrick. Bolin, at one point, tells Varrick that he's amazed that Zhu Li worked for a guy like him for so long.
• Not So Stoic:
  • In "Enemy at the Gates", she fakes pledging her loyalty to Kuvira and calls out Varrick on his poor treatment of her.
  • "Operation Beifong" has her show panic and worry when the spirit ray is overloading, and true contempt for Kuvira when her plan is exposed.
• One-Steve Limit: Has the same name as one of Varrick's ships. It's a battleship. He named it after her specifically; as Varrick says, "They're both cold, heartless war machines!"
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In "Day of the Colossus":
  Varrick: Zhu Li, do the thing!
  Zhu Li: I'm afraid there are no more things left to do.
• Phrase Catcher: "Zhu Li! Do the thing!"
• Punny Name: Her name sounds like Julie, one of the most common secretary/assistant names in fiction.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: As President, she's basically everything Raiko wasn't, and Krew are understandably way more happy to meet with her to discuss matters. It helps that she actually invites Korra to do that at all, rather than leaving her shut out. Also, she provides snacks.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The practical nicer Blue Oni to Varrick's loud-mouth, insensitive Red Oni.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Averted. Zhu Li betrays Varrick, prompting Kuvira to ask why she should be spared. Zhu Li speaks ill of Varrick to make her Face–Heel Turn and Undying Loyalty to Kuvira look convincing, granting her a pardon. However, this proved to be a momentary lapse of judgement on Kuvira's part, as Zhu Li was actually a Fake Defector who wanted to stay behind and sabotage Kuvira's efforts.
• Satellite Character: She started out as Varrick's quiet assistant, though she did have her own characterizations. In Book 4, however, she gets more development separately from him.
  • Turf Wars completely averts this as she's organizing the relief efforts without Varrick and only his/their company's name is dropped where he doesn't appear until Part 2 where he takes a backseat as supportive husband (after realizing that she wants the massage,) to her aspirations in running against Raiko in the election.
• Servile Snarker: When Varrick mentions how long it would be before they would be ordered around on eating their cookies, she replied "In a few days" with a deadpan tone.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Often looks like a small mousy woman, but she's quite ravishing in her wedding dress, and had enough attraction on Varrick to momentarily stupefy him when he was about to propose.
• Shipper on Deck: Urged Opal to forgive Bolin for his mistake.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: One would think Zhu Li falls under All Girls Want Bad Boys because of her love for Varrick who has done some morally grey actions all in the pursuit for money. However, Zhu Li reveals that she fell in love with him because of his brilliant mind. Also, Zhu Li refused to work with Varrick until he started treating her as an equal and with equal respect.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: She's wears glasses and is the sane, practical one of her duo with Varrick.
• The Stoic: She's very serious and unemotional most of the time.
• Subordinate Excuse: She has always had romantic feelings for Varrick, which would explain why she's still his assistant despite how exhausting it is.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She comes off as cold and blunt, but she's also very loving and loyal towards Varrick, and once someone gets to know her, they realize she's actually quite friendly.
• Undying Loyalty: To Varrick as she is constantly at his side and "doing the thing", no matter what that thing is. However, at the end of "Enemy at the Gates", she finally loses her cool and slams Varrick for all the times she's had to do ridiculous things for him, and pledges her utmost loyalty to Kuvira. However, that turns out to be a front as she just wanted to get closer to her to sabotage the superweapon and later makes it clear that she was always loyal to him above all else. She also demands to be treated as an equal.
• Unholy Matrimony: Zhu Li has always had romantic feelings for Varrick, had no qualms being complicit in his crimes, and has always been wanting to enter into a relationship with Varrick. However, it isn't until after their Heel Face Turns that they really hit it off, and by the time they get married, the "unholy" part is gone.

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